Meet “Bake the Cis-tem,” my LGBTQ Pride cute and silly art project :)
About this LGBTQ pride project
Everybody loves the fun.
You could try to educate people seriously. I don't mind, but I’m sure of one thing - fun is always working.
My silly characters make people smile. Could you feel hate when you smile? Right!
I make my art miniatures on recycled cardboard coasters and talk about open LGBTQ people who inspire me, change and influence the world around them every day.
Why “Bake the Cis-tem”? How did I come up with this?
I am a huge sweet tooth and love to cook.
I can't say that I'm a foodie. However, I love turning various ingredients into one whole dish more than eating the result.
It's almost like drawing when hours of deliberation, work, and endless layers of paint, are hidden behind the final piece.
Therefore, when I thought about how to play with the words "breaking" and "system," the first thing that occurred to me was "bake."
Why I’m doing this LGBTQ pride art project?
I was born in Soviet Russia. My mother thought that homosexuality is for actors, artists, singers, etc.
She said that talented people are always out of order.
But ordinary people around her cannot be gay.
I thought that I was insane because I was not just a lesbian. I'm a non-binary lesbian.
And I know that there are so many people who still think like my mother.
And as a result of these thoughts, so many people still choose to be in their "rainbow closet.”
With the help of my silly characters, I want to show and tell that homosexuality and gender-nonconformity are not something we can choose or something that is the result of our mental disorders.
I want to tell and show that we are funny, inspirational, serene, and beautiful, like any other people.
And we have nothing to hide and nothing to be ashamed of.
In my youth, for a very long time, I hid from my parents who I am.
I mean my sexual and gender identity.
The people around me called me a tomboy.
Maybe it is okay here in the US, but this word is profoundly negative in my homeland.
Every day, my family and society forced me to BE A GIRL.
Every day I was forced to resist this pressure.
All I knew these times was that I could hide my homosexuality from them, but I couldn't hide my gender nonconformity.
Because whenever I did, they saw that I was a weird girl.
They saw it in my rolling gait, in my gestures.
It looked like they put a dress on a horse.
Art miniature dedicated to Cat Cora from “Bake-the-Cis-tem” art project
I felt safe only in my room, where all the walls were filled with posters of LGBTQ celebrities who openly lived their lives.
And you know what?
I would love to attach a coaster with art like my "Bake the Cis-tem" in the kitchen to the refrigerator straight in front of my parent's nose.
And no one except me understands its true meaning.
It would inspire me in those days.
Also, I would love someone in a comfortable and relaxed manner to show my mom how many LGBTQ people are around her.
And that all these people are not just celebrities.
And I want my art to help, support, and educate in one or another.
“…you may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one…”John Lenon “Imagine”
